It’s a boy, Mrs. Walker, it’s a boy! & 10 Ways to Sound Smart.

FROM THE DESK OF CLEARANCEJOBS.COM

1.  Another DHS cybersecurity chief takes a hike.  Contributor Michelle Kincaid reports that “The DHS may be feeling more shortchanged than successful lately, as Janet Napolitano isn’t the only official moving on from the agency. According to reports, Bruce McConnell, acting deputy undersecretary for cybersecurity, is planning to retire next month.  McConnell will be the third DHS cybersecurity official to resign this year. In April, Mark Weatherford, who served as deputy under secretary for cybersecurity, left the agency. Michael Locatis, then-assistant secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, left DHS in January.”  And more – Wall Street Cyberattack drill, Infrastructure cyber defense spending, and the effects of cyberterrorism on Wal-Mart, et. al.

2.  Putting the “Gee!” in Geospatial.  Editor Lindy Kyzer’s wide-eyed look at Geospatial Intelligence: “Consider a job in one of the fastest-growing arenas of national security – geospatial intelligence.  Geospatial analysis has existed as long as humans have made and studied maps – but its importance to the intelligence community has skyrocketed in the past several years, with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and drones being increasingly used to both gather intelligence and take down targets.”

THE FORCE AND THE FIGHT

1.  Karzai shares wish-list with CJCS in KabulKhaama.Com’s Ghanizada reports from Kabul that “the two sides discussed bilateral relations between the two nations and bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington. . . . Karzai also said that the people of Afghanistan is willing to sign a bilateral security agreement with Washington, but the pact should bring peace and stability in the country and support the development of Afghanistan security forces.”  Dempsey, reports American Forces Press Service, believes Afghanistan and the United States can sign an agreement by October: “’ I can tell you with great candor and integrity that the conversation today with the president was very positive, and I left convinced that he is as committed as we are to moving ahead with this bilateral security agreement as soon as possible . . . . We would like to have the enduring framework in place by October 2014 so there would be about 90 days before the current mandate ends and a new NATO operation called Resolute Support begins . . . .’”

2.  Al Qaeda-backed jail break in Iraq frees some 500 militantsLongWarJournal.Com’s Bill Roggio reports that “Al Qaeda’s affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, launched coordinated suicide assaults last night against two Iraqi jails, killing 26 policemen and freeing more than 500 prisoners.  The al Qaeda affiliate attacked prisons in Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, and Taji, north of the capital, on Sunday in an effort to break out leaders and fighters being held by the government.”  See also, “Hundreds escape after Iraq prison attacks” and “Qaeda militants flee Iraq jail.”  There goes the neighborhood.

3.  Hagel recognizes Vets’ great sacrifices at VFW.  Vietnam Vet SecDef Hagel tells audience “that many of the veterans, particularly those of the Korean War, have seen firsthand the human toll of sending a hollow force to war.  ‘Not one American should ever be ordered into battle without our leaders being as sure as they can be that their decision is worthy of the sacrifices that will be made by our sons and our daughters,’ he said.  The secretary began his address leading a thunderous applause for veterans of the Korean War whose service led to the armistice agreement signed 60 years ago this week.”  A SecDef of unparalleled perspective.  Read Hagel’s VFW remarks.

4.  Sending lawyers, guns, and money.  With Congress appeased, POTUS will arm Syrian rebels, reports Reuters’ Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell: “President Barack Obama will move forward with a plan for the United States to arm the struggling Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased . . . . ‘We have been working with Congress to overcome some of the concerns that they initially had, and we believe that those concerns have been addressed and that we will now be able to proceed,’ a source familiar with the administration’s thinking told Reuters on condition of anonymity.”  CJCS warns engaging in Syria could be an act of war: “Establishing a no-fly zone to protect Syrian rebels would require hundreds of U.S. aircraft at a cost as much as $1 billion per month and no assurance that it would change the momentum in the 2-year-old civil war . . . . Dempsey said the decision to use force in Syria is not one to be taken lightly.  ‘It is no less than an act of war,’ he wrote. And once that decision is made, the U.S. has to be prepared for what may come next. ‘Deeper involvement is hard to avoid,’” Dempsey said.  See also, “Dempsey lays out military options in Syria.”  Meanwhile, “UN decries crimes against children in Syria,” and Moscow to Syria: “expel extremists.”

5.  “Kidnapped” Morsi staying put, says Egyptian militaryAP’s Maggie Michael and Tony G. Gabriel report, “The military fears that Morsi’s release ‘would only increase protests and make them more aggressive . . . .’  At least five other prominent Brotherhood members have also been detained. The military also has said that there is no way the measures taken against Morsi will be reversed.”

6.  AFRICOM discussions on the Arab Spring.  Africa Center for Strategic Studies’ Dr. Joseph Siegle observes, “’The revolution that occurred in North Africa was the beginning, not the end of a process that started a long time ago in Africa,’ Dr. Siegle said. ‘Moreover the Arab spring resonated significantly on the continent, in the sense that the event raised the bar about transparency and legitimacy across sub-Saharan Africa.’ . . . the fact that Arab Spring events where led by young and more educated people calls for African governments to re-visit how they address the higher expectations of the youth generation. How African countries navigate these challenges of greater accountability will ultimately determine how the continent emerges in the future . . . .

CONTRACT WATCH

1.  Contractor sentenced to 48 monthsFairfaxNews.Com reports – unauthorized access to computers is bad timing post-Snowden: “A former government contracting official, Robert Edwin Steele, 38, of Alexandria, was sentenced Friday to 48 months in prison for 14 counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer. . . . When Steele left Company A on December 15, 2010, he gave verbal and written assurances to officials of Company A that he would not access its systems after his departure, and even urged them to shut down his existing accounts.  That same day, however, Steele began logging into Company A’s e-mail systems using a secret administrative account which he learned about during his work for Company A.  Steele immediately began downloading hundreds of proprietary documents using this administrative account.”

2.  How you passed your background checkJustice.Gov reports, “Lindsay Branson III, 58, a former background investigator for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), pled guilty today to a charge stemming from his falsification of work on background investigations of federal employees and contractors . . . . Between September 2010 and November 2011, . . . Branson represented that he had interviewed a source or reviewed a record­ regarding the subject of the background investigation. In fact, he had not conducted the interviews or obtained the records of interest. His reports were utilized and relied upon by the agencies requesting the background investigations to determine whether the subjects were suitable for positions having access to classified information, for positions impacting national security, or for receiving or retaining security clearances.”

TECH, PRIVACY, & SECRECY

1.  A right to privacy?  (Redux*) UPI.Com’s Marcella Kreiter asks, “Do we still have a right to privacy?”  Writes Kreiter, “With red-light cameras, store and home surveillance equipment, and the federal government collecting information on phone calls, email and Internet searches, maybe a little paranoia is justified.”  *I failed to link to this story yesterday, so here ya’ go!

2.  Hovering just above a 52-week low, Intel announces low-power server chipsReuters’ Noel Randewich explains that “Chipmaker Intel Corp said it is planning to launch a low-power version of its brawny server processors, potentially heading off competitors hoping to expand into the data center with energy efficient-chips based on smartphone technology. . . . data centers that combine many low-power chips instead of just a few heavy-duty processors may provide more computing power for less money and use less electricity.”

3.  Don’t surf nakedVentureBeat.Com’s Ricardo Bilton explains how you can cruise the internet’s superhighway without exposing your private parts: “Here’s an obvious reality about privacy breaches: Companies can’t lose data that they don’t have.  Taking advantage of this realization is privacy company Abine, which has officially announced MaskMe, an ambitious browser extension that gives users the privacy-protecting power of disposable e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and even credit card numbers.  ‘Our goal with MaskMe was to give people a new approach to privacy that’s convenient with the way they already live their lives online,’ said Sarah Downey, a privacy analyst at Abine.”

POTOMAC TWO-STEP

1.  Obama and GoP fiddleMcClatchyDC.Com’s David Lightman shares the numbers:  Obama and GoP going down together.  “Stung by Americans’ persistent worries about the economy and a capital gripped by controversy and gridlock, President Barack Obama is suffering his lowest job approval numbers in nearly two years, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. . . . About his only solace is that the approval rating of congressional Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, sank to 22 percent. One-third of registered voters approved of congressional Democrats’ performance.  The dismal Washington numbers reflect ‘the ongoing, cumulative effect of those issues which have not been resolved’ and no solution is in sight . . . . Lawmakers remain at odds over how to trim federal deficits or write a federal budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, and Congress plans to leave Aug. 2 for a five-week recess.”  Scenes from congressional recess [just turn down the sound and use your imagination, but only a little].

2.  Don’t trust me – I’m with the government.  No one trusts the government, so no one wants to work for it, GovExec.Com explains: “Increasingly negative views toward government make it more difficult to recruit the ablest young people, USA Today warned, citing analysts. ‘As a result, government and politics are likely to work even less well — presumably prompting perceptions to fall further . . . . ’”

OPINIONS EVERYONE HAS

1.  “History lessons from a hollow force.”  DefenseOne.Com’s Stephanie Gaskell reminds, “There’s a historic precedent to reducing the size and scope of the military after major combat, but along with that comes another historical truth: a hollow force often means major defeat in early battles of the next conflict. . . . This is not lost on Hagel, who fought in Vietnam. While he left the military in 1968, he watched as the Army he fought with in what was then America’s longest war become a shadow of itself in the decades that followed.”

2.  EU’s evidence of intestinal fortitude: Hizbollah are terroristsThe Telegraph’s Daniel Taub applauds the EU’s aplomb: “This week we saw one such positive step, with the designation of the military wing of Hizbollah as a terrorist organisation by the European Union. Britain deserves particular credit for the tenacity and courage with which it has spearheaded this campaign over recent months. . . . Nonetheless, placing the group on the EU’s terrorist list is a tangible and positive step, sending a forceful message to the region that violence is not acceptable and weakening Hezbollah’s destabilising influence in the Lebanese sphere. Closer to home, the designation has practical benefits. It will enable European authorities to freeze Hizbollah assets and increase cross-border cooperation in fighting their crimes.”

3.  The good and bad of the Arab springAljazeera.Com contributor Professor Richard Falk’s imposing but intelligent argument: “The good news in Egypt is that the new subjectivity of political fearlessness that was born in January 25 on Tahrir Square persists; deference to the state is more dependent on the performance of the government than in the past, and this reminds the leaders that public accountability is about more than elections.  The bad news is that the Egyptian people in their new mobilisation had to turn to the military to attain their political goals, and many anti-Morsi protestors seemed oblivious to the dangers of doing so. The further bad news is that the new leadership – like the Morsi leadership and the Mubarak leadership before it – is likely to turn the country over to neoliberal taskmasters, internally and internationally, in their indispensable quest for economic normalcy.”

4.  It’s a boy!

THE FUNNIES

1.  It’s a baby!

2.  Boy King.

3.  NSA.

4.  Fade to black.

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Ed Ledford enjoys the most challenging, complex, and high stakes communications requirements. His portfolio includes everything from policy and strategy to poetry. A native of Asheville, N.C., and retired Army Aviator, Ed’s currently writing speeches in D.C. and working other writing projects from his office in Rockville, MD. He loves baseball and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring anything. Follow Ed on Twitter @ECLedford.